Sunday, December 30, 2012

Today I have for you a few New Year's Eve nail ideas! Note that there are no reds or golds featured here; I know some of you ladies love those colors for ringing in the new year, and that's totally cool, but my interest in them fizzled after three or so weeks of Christmas manicures! The shades I gravitate to this time of year are silvers, blues, blacks, and, of course, glitter (which is definitely a color, in my highly esteemed opinion ;).

I'll start with a classic: a shiny silver foil. My favorite, pictured below, is Zoya's Trixie. This is a flashy silver that doesn't veer to 'blindingly bright', and will match most outfits well. Unfortunately, it freaks my camera out a bit, but hopefully you can still make out its beauty -

If Trixie on its own is lacking in shine for you, never fear! Here it is layered with various silver and holographic glitter topcoats:

And if Trixie is too flashy for you (perhaps it's overkill to an already flashy outfit), you can try overlaying the silver with a half-moon manicure using circular binder tape. Shown below is my most favorite, most pigmented, smoothest black, CND's Blackjack. One coat is sufficient for full coverage -

I love deep, vibrant blues, and New Year's Eve is a perfect time to wear them! I picked two from my collection which offered a bit of sparkle in addition to lovely, dark pigmentation. Feast your eyes on these beauts! If I did not love the enough already, the Dr. Who reference is a sure-fire way to steal my heart ;)

Another great hue for NYE is a black lacquer with holographic glitter. Here is Zoya Storm, which is stupidly, stupendously gorgeous -

Lastly, you can try the simple but elegant glitter gradient manicure, offering just the right amount of bling for a night out. For the photos below, I used Hungry Asian's Mumbling over one coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu -

Of course, this barely scratches a tip of the endless possibilities for a fun New Year's manicure! How are you doing your nails on the 31st? Let me know so that I can live vicariously through you - my nails are currently on a self-imposed detox to repair and restore length, so no nail polish for me for a few weeks. (Sad, but necessary).

Thanks for reading, and I wish you all a happy, healthy, and fun New Year's!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Not much to say today, but I do have a load of photos to share! This is likely my last post before Christmas, so I want to wish you all a very, very happy holidays!

These are a handful of Hare Polish nail lacquers that I have. They are all too, too gorgeous and I have a hard time picking a favorite, but I can say that this line offers some beautiful, unique shades that are all of high quality in my experience. If you haven't checked out Hare Polish yet, I highly recommend you do!

Afterglow -

Medusa Luminosa -

A Positive -

Cast in Bronze -

Dead Man's Bones -

Monster -

Lovely, no? You can find Hare Polish at the Llarowe Shop for $11 each.

Thanks for looking! One again, wishing everyone a safe, healthy, and happy holidays!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

It has come to my attention that, at some point over the last few years, I have gathered a small but substantial army of Nars lip pencils! I swear I don't know how this happened 8D I do like these products, though, so I though I'd throw up some photos of the shades I have in case anyone was curious.

My favorites would have to be Mexican Rose and Dragon Girl. Mexican Rose is a lovely mid-vibrant, everyday hot pink that gives your lips a burst of color without being too over the top of neon for the workplace. It is my most used Nars lip pencil! Dragon Girl is simply a gorgeous, gorgeous creation - this is my go-to matte, blue-based red. I love the matte look (so vintage and classy) and I feel Dragon Girl is subdued enough, without losing the sexy sophistication often associated with these hues, to be a good fit even for those apprehensive of reds. My least favorite is Toundra; I got in on sale for $5 and I'm glad I didn't spend more! It is very unforgiving to dry lips, and is not a good complement to my skin tone.

The Nars Velvet Matte Pencils wear really well (about 4 hours) with even, non-splotchy fading. Dragon Girls and Sex Machine are comfortable to wear, though, as mentioned earlier, Toundra is drying. The Velvet Gloss pencils have a pleasant texture - smooth and soft. They don't hold as well as the mattes (only about 2 hours), but they're still really nice and shiny.

Both the Velvet Matte and Velvet Gloss Nars Lip Pencils sell for $24 regularly at Sephora (here and here), the Nars online store, and at some department store makeup counters.

What do you think? I'm a fan, and even more so because they come in pencil form!

Friday, December 14, 2012

A dreary and dark day in my area sets the perfect setting for curling up on the couch with a mug of hot dark chocolate for some good old-fashioned blogging! Today I have one of my purchases from the Sephora F/F sale from a couple weeks back - the Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes Collection, a set of two full-sized liners (0.04 oz.; in Mat Black 0L [black] and Pearly Brown 2L [pearly medium brown]) and four mini liners (0.025 oz.; in Dark Grey 21L [shimmery gunmetal], Blue with Green Highlights 12L [metallic teal], Champagne 23L [warm metallic champagne], and Black Purple 6L [blackened purple]).

I think most are familiar with Make Up For Ever's Aqua Liners, but if not, they are a solid, long-wearing staple that I keep on rotation in my makeup collection. They have good pigmentation and can be purchased individually for $18 at Sephora. As for this set, it is a lovely little classic collection that offers a variety of colors, none of which are too crazy, and a great value at $36 (basically, it's like purchasing two full-size and getting four minis free). Unfortunately this set seems to be out of stock and the moment, but if any of these shades speak to you you can purchase the full-size pencil from Make Up For Ever's permanent line. Sephora frequently offers MUFE value sets, so keep an eye out!

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